Budget Travel – Australia

Australia surprised us many times while we were on the road during
our 5-week long road trip. Mostly, we were surprised by nature, but sometimes
by costs of things too! It is not a secret Australia has a bit of a reputation
for being not the most budget-friendly place to travel in. Eating and drinking
out is expensive here and cost of labour is one of the highest in the world. However,
when it comes to budgeting for a country which should be expensive I believe creative
thinking and good planning can really help you save money.

Australian Road Trip on a Budget – Photo by Kristina – December 2018

Most of the times it’s very simple – the more luxuries you sacrifice,
the cheaper the journey will be. And because we want our traveling experience
to last oftentimes we have to make a few of these sacrifices. But what do you
do if you trim the fat to the point you only have the bare bones (a car to
travel in, a tent to sleep in, supermarket food every day, etc.) and you are
still over budget? In these sorts of situation you need to focus and really go
the extra mile to get what you want.

Staying on Top of Your Budget

We were in such situation when we were planning our Ultimate Road Trip in Australia. We had a tight budget with which we wanted to see the whole east coast and when we started looking into costs of things we quickly realized it will be tough to not go over. As an example, the first website I checked for car rentals quoted somewhere in the region of 1700 A$ for a small car for five weeks. We ended up paying 800 A$ in total, but because we found another two people to travel with we ended up only forking out 400 A$. That’s more than Four Times cheaper than my first quote!!!

And here is another one. We could not afford hotels/motels
at 80 A$ per night so we budgeted for staying in campsites at around 10 A$ per
night per person. We had to buy a tent, a mattress and a few other things but
because it was summer in Australia this we considered acceptable. We ended up
staying in free campsites most of the time which meant we paid barely anything
for accommodation. I can’t tell you the exact amount but it was under $300 for
two of us for 5 weeks.

This should be enough evidence to convince those who think Australia
is out of their reach to reconsider. If it isn’t let me know and I will give
you more examples and tips! Anyways, let’s jump into Money Matters for
Australia.

Money Matters

Australia is one of the most developed countries in the
world with excellent infrastructure so paying for things is not a problem here.
Had we not stayed in remote paid campsites we probably could have survived
without cash altogether.

Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of ATMs in every town and
city and even if you do decide you need cash it won’t be problematic to get
some. Although we have been able to use our Revolut card for the majority of
payments, not all of the transactions where PIN was required were going
through. For this reason, I would probably recommend having at least one card which
offers free foreign currency transactions.

Also, keep in mind ATMs will charge foreign cards a couple
of dollars in addition to your non-local currency withdrawal fee charged by the
bank.

At the time of writing the 1 Australian dollar (A$) is worth
£0.55.

Food and Drink

Eating out will be notoriously expensive in Australia,
especially if you like a wine or a beer with your meal too. While I would not
expect people to not eat out ever while traveling, saving fancy dinners for a
more budget friendly destination might be the way to go. This is how much food
and beverages cost.

Supermarket

Strawberries from the supermarket are as yummy as those from the restaurant – Photo by Andrius – December 2018

Note: Between four of
us we saved several hundred dollars by not buying bottled water. Instead we
bough two large 10L tanks and kept topping them up in water refill stations which
are widely available in towns and cities. It’s good not only for your budget but
for the environment too!

Transportation

Unlike many other places in the world, space is something
that Australia has a lot of. For this reason, getting to places without a car
is extremely difficult. If you don’t like spending a lot of time on the road,
flying will be your only alternative.

I found it interesting that concepts of what is ‘far’ and
what is ‘close’ are slightly different than in Europe. A few hundred kilometres
in Australia is considered close.

Traveling on a budget in Australia – Photo by Kristina – December 2018

Car

Camper van

Camper van hire – 50-100$ (rate per day)

Note: Jucy and WickedCampers are the most popular options in east Australia, but always check other rental companies online for best rates.

Flights

Internal flights are not that expensive when you factor in
costs of car hire, 3rd party insurance and fuel costs into the
equation. We’ve kept an eye on skyscanner throughout the journey and noticed most
of the flights stick to the 70-150 $A range.

Other

As per my blog post about Moreton Island, some places might
only be accessible via a private boat tour. Depending on the package you opt
for expect these to be somewhere between 100-200 A$ for a one-day tour.

Accommodation

Unless you are absolutely stacked you will have to do a bit
of thinking to prevent your budget from flying into the sky like a balloon. Below
are the most popular choices. All prices are per night.

Attractions

There is plenty to see and do in Australia and the good
thing is that most of the touristy locations in Australia and free. You won’t
be expected to pay to enter and hike in a national park or swim in the waterfall
pools.

However, due to very high minimum hourly wage, any
activities where you need a guide, instructor, etc. will cost quite a bit. For
example:

Conclusion

It would be difficult to argue that Australia is an
expensive country for those who want to enjoy all that this country has to offer.
I think it is important to really think about your priorities before traveling
if you have a limited budget. The obvious opportunities are going to be
reducing the frequency of eating out and sleeping in nature more than in
hotels. However, not everybody might be comfortable with that. The only
solution then is to save more!

Budget Travel Australia Poster – January 2019

As it is usual for the budget travel posts to have an
example budget, this post is no exception. Below is an example travel budget
for a two-week trip for one person from the UK.

Return Flights – £650Accommodation – £500 (assuming 70 A$ per night which is somewhere between a motel room and a bed at a hostel)Food – £550 (assuming 40 A$ per day which is a mix of eating out and supermarket food)Transport – £350 (assuming a daily car rental rate of 30 A$ + 4 full tanks of petrol which would be enough for 2000km+)Sightseeing and Entertainment – £300 (approximate for tours, attractions, nights out, etc.)

Total – £2350 or around £170 per day all included.

Visa (if applicable) and Insurance (definitely recommended) were
not included into this calculation.